Or that a multiagency US law enforcement task force devoted to stemming opioid sales on the dark web arrested more than 60 people in a major operation the month before. On one hand, it offers privacy for whistleblowers, journalists, and citizens in oppressive countries. On the other hand, it’s notorious for enabling illegal activity, including drug sales, weapons trafficking, counterfeit ID trading, hacking services, and the exchange of stolen personal data. Monero and Bitcoin are two of the most commonly used digital currencies on the dark web markets.
Now that shipments from China have come under suspicion, the sellers told the investigators that they preferred to ship through Europe. Even as the US worked with China to crack down on one fentanyl compound, the sellers simply tweaked their formula and offered to sell a new version in another email included in the report. A lot of experts would say that tackling demand and making treatment more accessible should be the top priority.
This Is How Easy It Is To Order Deadly Opioids Over The Internet
Not sit in a shitty car park selling $10 bags from a car window all day. Regarding profits, darknet vendors do not have to limit their trading to face-to-face interactions, and can instead sell drugs to a potentially worldwide customer base. Law enforcement agencies around the world — but especially in the US — have started to take a keen interest in what takes place in this strange encrypted internet and are certainly getting better at infiltrating and shutting down these sites.
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It is considered a go-to site for malware purchasing, providing keyloggers, trojans, and other Malware as a Service products. The United States leads the world in the cryptomarket-share of drugs being sold on the dark web, followed by the UK and Australia. In this article, we’ll focus on the purchase of drugs online, what the dark web really is, its dangers, how to tell if someone uses it and the best advice if you’re concerned for someone using it. One such individual was a 49-year-old Ohioan who sent roughly $2,500 to an online seller over the course of 10 months—from May 2016 to February 2017. Over that time period, he received 15 packages through the Postal Service on dates that closely corresponded to payments he made to an online seller. He died in early 2017 from “acute fentanyl intoxication.” He had received a package from an online seller just 30 days before his death.
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Ulbricht faced several serious charges, including distributing illegal drugs, running a criminal enterprise, hacking, trafficking fake IDs, and money laundering. In the end, he was sentenced to life in prison for running one of the largest and most scandalous dark web cases in history. While this may all sound sophisticated, it is a financial crime and very risky.

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Brian usually buys his illegal drugs from “traditional dealers,” as he put it. But occasionally, he’ll ask a friend who already uses a darknet marketplace to get him something from there. He’s heard too many stories about buyers getting busted when law enforcement organizations take over sites to feel comfortable. After weathering seven in-person busts over the years, he’d prefer not to get caught again. Some cryptomarkets where people can buy drugs also sell stolen credit card data and forgeries.
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- It also provides a safe haven for whistleblowers, journalists and those seeking free expression under oppressive regimes.
- We developed Lunar to monitor the deep and dark web, including dark web marketplace sites.
- More than one in 10 drug purchases made during the UK’s first national lockdown were made on the dark web, according to research by Release.
- “Except for those three times, I never got shorted, and the product ranged from good to excellent quality,” she noted.
- As Telegram has end-to-end encryption and anonymous profiles, it makes it an ideal choice for threat actors and hackers to take advantage of.
In the case of Garnett Smith, one of Baltimore’s biggest drug dealers, the DEA finally caught up with him through his Instagram photos of gold bricks, fast cars, and designer gear—for which he had no other source of income. His conspicuous wealth provided evidence of the size of his drug operation. And this is what scares Tony and others like him—not getting caught in a single deal, but having a small bust roll into charges for a lifetime’s dealing thanks to the records logged in your phone or on the servers at Instagram or Snapchat. In conversations with dealers and buyers, a trend emerges among the stories of smooth transactions. Popular hashtags, like #Kush4Sale or #OGKush, are important, and a good place to start.
Is It Illegal To Access The Dark Web?
Unfortunately, the dark web hosts not only explicit but also deeply illegal and disturbing content. The markets often share materials related to child exploitation, pornography, and non-consensual recordings, all of which are serious crimes that inflict lasting harm on real-life victims. Such content fuels a dangerous cycle of abuse, violence, and exploitation. While hiring a hacker might sound like something out of a movie, it’s a very real threat. Businesses may use these services to sabotage their competitors, while individuals may seek revenge or simply want access to private information about someone. It’s also a marketplace for digital mercenaries; you’ll find everything from solo hackers offering their skills to well-organized groups that take on more complex or high-stakes projects.

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Michael Gilbert, an independent researcher who has studied darknet drug markets, said that not only do individual users buy drugs on the darknet, so do dealers who go on to resell the drug in their local area. “A lot of people have used drugs that have flowed through cryptomarkets without knowing what cryptomarkets are,” he said. Cybercriminals go on dark web marketplaces to buy and sell illicit goods and services.
For Darknet Markets 2025 On Buy Weed
Like most of the markets, STYX supports Bitcoin (BTC), Monero (XMR), and other crypto tokens to keep everyone’s identity hidden on this marketplace. Torzon Market showed up on the dark web in September 2022, and it’s been growing steadily ever since. These days, it lists over 11,600 illegal items, including hard drugs, hacking tools, and all kinds of cybercrime services. It also runs on the Tor network, which helps keep things anonymous. Established in 2020, Awazon Market has quickly become one of the most famous darknet marketplaces. The market claims to provide secure and anonymous commerce services.
And, of course, think twice before sharing too much personal details online. Even the smallest details about you can be useful to cybercriminals. That all is for general internet activities, you can guess how crucial having a VPN is when you hop onto something like the dark web. However, the dark web is so complex and vast that if law enforcement takes down one market, it pops up elsewhere.

Stopping their growth takes serious effort from US agencies like the FBI, often working hand-in-hand with international law enforcement. If you think the Dark web marketplaces are just online shops, you’re wrong — these sites are the actual weapon stores for criminals. They provide criminals with access to everything they need, from launching attacks to stealing data, etc.